My 9-month-old Son Needs A New Liver And We Cannot Afford It

Sravanthi, mother of 9-month-old Shanmukha has only seen her baby experience hospital visits, medical tests, and antibiotics. Shanmukha had symptoms of jaundice and got diagnosed with Decompensated Liver Failure at birth. This shattered his family. His 4-year-old brother was eagerly waiting to welcome the little one home. But all the family got to see were pale yellow eyes.

The child was operated 50 days after birth

How to deal with the shock of learning about the critical nature of your child’s illness, even before holding a naming ceremony for him? How to come to terms with knowing that your child won’t survive without a liver transplant? Sadly for Phaneendra and Sravanthi, this became their reality, the very day their baby was born.

Sravanthi recounts the anxious moments when Shanmukha had to go under the knife on the 19th of July 2017, exactly 50 days after his birth, to have a chance of recovering from the debilitating liver failure. Now, he has been diagnosed with Biliary Atresia, a disease that occurs in infants and blocks the flow of bile from the liver to the gallbladder. Not only this, he also suffers from repeated episodes of Cholangitis, which occurs with an increased frequency. This can lead to liver failure, and the doctor told the desperate parents that the only way to treat this is a liver transplant.

All they want is for Shanmukha to be normal like the other children

What was supposed to be a day of joy, turned into despair in no time. Sravanthi and Phaneendra had no time to celebrate the birth of their little bundle of joy.

“I want my child to be normal. I want him to experience the joy of playing, running, going to school and coming back home to tell me how the day was. I want him to have a future of happiness. But, what do we do now? Nothing matters more to us than Shanmukha getting rid of white stools, dark urine and yellowed eyes.” says Sravanthi, eyes welling up with tears

Phaneendra and Sravanthi are doing everything in their capacity to save their baby boy, but the cost of his treatment is huge and beyond their means.

They’re neck deep in debt and have no idea how to save their son

“I’ve done all I could. We have spent all our savings, we are in steep debt now. The doctor tells us that there is a fungus-like structure on the liver. He says that a liver transplant in the coming months is the only way we can see our child healthy and happy, but I can’t imagine how to source the 16 Lakh rupees required.” says Phaneendra, 9-month-old Shanmukha’s devastated father.

In the nine months, since the birth of Shanmukha, the family has spent 9 Lakh Rupees on the treatment. Medical tests, antibiotics and hospital admission for weeks at length, the family now requires Rupees 16 Lakh to have any chance of saving their son. They have loaned money from everywhere they could, but now all the wells have dried up.

How you can help

If Shanmukha’s story haunts you, you know how desperately they need your help. Your support can save this 9-month-old baby’s life. Let’s give humanity a chance in the face of crisis.

Please help Phaneendra and Sravanthi save their baby boy.

You can also do a bank transfer to the below mentioned account setup for this fundraising campaign:

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14th May 2018

Dear Supporters,

Thank you for your tremendous support. This couldn't have been possible without you.

Shanmukha is doing better now. The swelling in her stomach has reduced and the doctors have advised her to take medicines till it completely gets back to normal.

The donor workup will be done in a week's time, post which we will know if she is eligible for liver transplant. We are all hopeful about her well-being.

Please keep praying for her. Thank you all, once again.

9th April 2018

Dear Supporters,

Here is an update on Shanmukha's health.

At present, he is at home and is doing better compared to earlier. He is undergoing regular medication as prescribed by the doctor. Due to his health and the treatment that is going on, he frequently contracts fever for a long period of time and has to be administered treatment for the fever at first, however, now his fever has reduced now.

We will be visiting the hospital on Wednesday (11th April) so that doctors can keep a check on his current health condition. Will keep you posted about what doctors suggest as for the next course of action.

We are grateful to each and everyone who has supported selflessly. Please share this campaign as much as you can to help us in raising funds towards this campaign.